Johnson’s son, 32-year-old Rodriquez “Dreke” Powell, and her nephew, 35-year-old Justin Taylor, had just been shot while sitting inside a Mustang on Birmingham’s Inglenook Road. Taylor was rushed to hospital where he died shortly after arriving. Powell barely made it out of the car before he was killed on the road. For Johnson, the scene was all too familiar. Powell is her third son to die of violence in Birmingham. Taylor, who was like a son to her, was her second nephew to be killed on the streets. Her faith, she said, is what gets her through the losses. “I can’t say, ‘Again, Lord?’ No, because I trust God,” Johnson said Sunday. “He lent them to us. They are not ours. It’s God’s.” “I love my children, I love my grandchildren, I love my family,” he said, “but my trust is in God.” Theta Johnson stands outside crime scene tape after her son and nephew were fatally shot Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, in Birmingham. Johnson lost three sons to violence in Birmingham. (Carol Robinson) The first son Johnson lost was Jacoba Powell, who was 23 when he was fatally shot by an off-duty Birmingham police officer in 2005. Police said at the time that the officer had seen two men arguing in an outside hallway. Jacoba Powell had a knife and the officer called for him to stop and drop the knife. When he walked up to the officer, the officer fired a gun and struck Jacoba Powell. Eight years later, in 2013, Johnson lost another son when former Tarrant High School football star Emanuel Powell, 22, was fatally stabbed during a dispute over money. During high school he was repeatedly nominated as The Birmingham News Player of the Week after scoring multiple touchdowns in games during his senior year. “He’s been playing football since he was 3 years old,” his sister, Concetta Powell, told AL.com in 2013. “He had a fantastic senior year.” His football career ended with his graduation from Tarrant. Since then he worked in road construction. “He was loving and kind-hearted,” she said. “He always took care of our mom after our brother died. He was just special.” Johnson took both deaths hard, but the first one was the hardest because she said she didn’t have the mental strength she has now. “When I lost Jacoba, I was saved, but I was not in God as I am today. I tried to kill myself because I didn’t understand,” he said. “After that… I was saved.” “God just shields. The Holy Spirit is a guardian if you want to be kept,” he said. “It keeps me. I’d be crazy right now if it was me, so I thank the Lord for covering me with His grace and His mercy.” Johnson earlier Saturday was preparing for a women’s conference she was holding next weekend to celebrate her birthday. It would be a spiritual gathering that he had called, “Bad girls, bad girls, what will you do when the Lord comes for you.” While in the midst of preparing for it, she said her thoughts suddenly turned to the two sons and one nephew she had lost. Her nephew, Rodregous Gurley, 39, was fatally shot in Birmingham in 2019. She posted about them on Facebook, calling them her angels. “The relationships I have had with all three of you, words cannot explain,” Johnson wrote. “I really, really miss you, the love, the joy, the calls and the laughter was genuine.” “This saying is so true. You don’t miss someone until they’re gone,” she wrote. “I’m just sitting here reminiscing and smiling until we meet again.” “They just got into my heart,” Johnson said Sunday. “Now I feel it was the Spirit. Were they telling me they would come and get them?’ Just a few hours later he would lose another son and a nephew. She received a phone call telling her they were both dead. “I couldn’t believe it because they weren’t messing with anybody, they weren’t beefing with anybody,” he said. Rodriquez “Dreke” Powell, left, and his cousin, Justin Taylor, right, were shot to death Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, while sitting in a vehicle on Birmingham’s Inglenook Street. (Exclusive to AL.com) Birmingham Police. Monica Law said the victims were inside a Ford Mustang when a small sedan drove by and opened fire on the vehicle. Crime scene investigators marked approximately 20 shell casings on the roadway. Law said police received a 911 call reporting multiple people had been shot. When officers arrived, they found both the driver and passenger of the parked vehicle shot multiple times. Dreke Powell worked at Brother’s Recycling and worked earlier Saturday. He and his cousin, Taylor, went to the mall and were sitting outside Powell’s girlfriend’s house just chilling when they were shot. Her nephew leaves behind five children. Her son leaves behind two, including a 7-year-old daughter who is autistic. “Drake was so good to her,” Johnson said. “He was a family man.” He said he wants them to be remembered “for their compassion for people, their love and their smiles.” “I wish they would lay down their arms. I have been praying and asking the Lord, “How can we get to this generation that will lay down their arms and love one another?” he said. “But I know there’s less love in the world today.” Asked if she had any advice for other parents who have lost or will lose loved ones to gun violence, Johnson said, “Hold on to God. I’m holding on for dear life.” Through it all, Johnson glorifies God. “Whatever the enemy meant for my harm, God will turn for my good,” he said. “The enemy thinks he has won. He has won nothing. You’re watching.”
